As mentioned yesterday (and lots of other times this year), I am more than a little skeptical of the value of new negotiations with the Iranian regime.
And it is more than fair to wonder if the Iranians are all that serious about the talks scheduled to take place in Istanbul on Friday. Just today, courtesy the Wall Street Journal:
The U.S. shot down an Iranian drone targeting the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, and a U.S.-flagged ship evaded an attempt by armed Iranian gunboats to force it to stop, as tensions escalated Tuesday in the Persian Gulf.
The Lincoln was sailing about 500 miles from Iran’s southern coast when an Iranian Shahed-139 drone “unnecessarily maneuvered toward the ship” and continued flying toward the carrier even after U.S. forces took steps to de-escalate, spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said, without specifying the steps.
An F-35C fighter from the Lincoln then destroyed the drone, which caused no damage, Hawkins said.
Hours later, two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats and an Iranian Mohajer drone sped toward a U.S.-flagged ship and threatened to board and seize the tanker, according to the U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East.
A U.S. destroyer with air support escorted the tanker to safety, Hawkins said.
Did I say talks that are scheduled to take place in Istanbul on Friday? Maybe they’ll be in Oman. From Axios:
Iran has demanded changes to the venue and format for negotiations with the U.S. this Friday, two sources with knowledge tell Axios.
The sources said the Iranians are walking back from understandings that were reached in recent days after several countries were already invited to participate in the talks.
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The Iranians want to move the talks from Istanbul to Oman.
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They also now want to hold them in a bilateral format, only with the U.S., rather than with several Arab and Muslim countries attending as observers.
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A source with knowledge said that’s because the Iranians want to limit the talks to nuclear issues and not discuss things like missiles and proxy groups that are priorities for other countries in the region.
Now, it is not exactly unprecedented for a U.S. president to extend a hand of friendship to the Iranian regime and get taken to the cleaners, transferring billions in cash as the regime breaks its promises. The thing is, the current president spent a lot of time telling us that Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden were naïve fools in their dealings with Iran. So why is President Trump so eager to get back to the negotiating table with a regime that has broken almost every treaty it has ever signed?